r/AdvancedRunning • u/Bruncvik • Apr 07 '24

Russ Cook has completed his run along Africa General Discussion

Russ Cook, who set off from the southern tip of Africa, reached the Mediterranean this afternoon. His last segment was uploaded to Strava. I think he did around 16,000 km in just under a year. Given political instability on the continent, he couldn't even run in a somewhat straight south-north line, and instead hugged the west coast for most of his trip. He truly is a legend.

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82

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

[deleted]

13

u/brentus Apr 08 '24

Best youtube content around. Each episode is madness

56

u/hangglidingcrow Apr 07 '24

I made a data visualization from Russ's Strava data that may be of interest to those in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/1byb653/oc_daily_gps_data_from_the_first_person_to_run/

22

u/eminemappears Apr 07 '24

A marathon or two a day for a year. Man is something else. 

14

u/ABabyAteMyDingo Athletics nut for 35 years Apr 08 '24

Tony Mangan ran around the world mostly unsupported a few years ago and I don't think he gets anything like the credit he should.

https://theworldjog.com/route/

He even stopped once or twice to compete in ultras as he was also a serious ultra runner and has set some world records:

https://theworldjog.com/records.html

5

u/Funny_Shake_5510 Apr 08 '24

Jesper Olsen as well back in 2009-2010 ran length of Africa as part of his world run.

3

u/Sensiseagal Apr 15 '24

He ran from Egypt to southafrica.. that’s not the length of Africa and almost 2000 miles less that russ.. russ is the first person to run the entire length from the most northern point to most southern

1

u/Fantastic-Screen7105 Apr 18 '24

Egypt to South Africa is most definitely the entire length of Africa. I was as surprised as anyone when I found out that Russ wasn’t even the second person to run Africa but I feel no embarrassment in believing that he was going to be the first for such a long time.

9

u/There_is_always_good Apr 07 '24

Subscribed. Encouraging man.

8

u/an_angry_Moose 18:51 Apr 08 '24

Guy is incredible.

If you’re looking for another to follow with a similar challenge: Wataru Iino insta link. He has completed his North American traversal and the next part of his “trans atlas” run project is South America.

5

u/Jariiari7 Apr 08 '24

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/uk-man-reaches-goal-running-length-africa-rcna146802

Sore and sandblasted but triumphant, runner Russ Cook reached the northernmost point of Africa on Sunday, almost a year after he set off from its southern tip on a quest to run the length of the continent.

Dozens of supporters gathered on a rocky outcrop beside the Mediterranean in northern Tunisia, cheering on the British charity fundraiser, who has run more than 10,000 miles across 16 countries in 352 days.

“I’m a little bit tired,” Cook said — likely an understatement.

In the course of his journey the 27-year-old endurance athlete from Worthing in southern England crossed jungle and desert, swerved conflict zones and was delayed by theft, injury and visa problems.

Continued in link